The world’s largest gaming company and owner of four Atlantic City casinos, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. has decided to acquire a bigger stake in the rival market that is growing across the Delaware River and has signed a tentative agreement to operate and invest in the troubled Foxwoods casino project proposed for Philadelphia in an attempt to salvage it.  

In terms of the agreement Harrah’s will take a minority ownership and also manage the riverfront property on South Columbus Boulevard which is being developed by a group of local developers called Philadelphia Entertainment & Development Partners.

There have been huge leaks in revenue from Harrah’s Entertainment’s four Atlantic City casinos due to a cutback in consumer spending caused by the recession as well as from the siphoning off of gaming revenue by casinos in Pennsylvania.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, a supporter of brining video lottery terminals to the Meadowlands, stated that he felt that Harrah’s was only interested in their corporate bottom line in Nevada and do not care about Atlantic City or New Jersey.  He added that Harrah’s had made a corporate decision that they would make more money in a casino in Philadelphia than they would lose draining it from Atlantic City.  However, many believe that by having Harrah’s own casinos in both markets will see an increase of loyal gamblers.

Casino gambling was legalized in Pennsylvania in 2004 with the first slot parlor opening in 2006.  This year saw the opening of the first casinos with table games.

Harrah’s owns the Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack in Pennsylvania and according to Jacqueline Peterson, a spokeswoman for Harrah’s it has been discussing a role it could play in the proposed Foxwoods casino for many years.

Harrah’s is presently in a “quiet period” on instructions from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission as it proposes to move from a private company to a publicly traded one.

An Attorney representing the developer group said that he believed that with Harrah’s involvement, the new plan would be to revive the project in a smaller version with 1,500 slots and 70 table games, to be opened in 20 months.